Hyrule Castle High: Year 2
by Rhaylt Zheirt
Summary: New year, but old school! Shadow's dealing with grief, Link's dealing with financial problems, Sheik's dad is still transphobic, Midna's still in a political mess, and SURPRISE! Vaati transferred to their school! And he has two lackeys following him around . . . (READING BOOK 1 NOT REQUIRED)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: What's uuuup! Getting back into things after a couple months off after finishing the last year of this story. I've written a brief summary in case you don't want to read year 1 before starting this one, but I mean . . . it's my beloved story so of course I'm gonna highly suggest you read it!**

**You can also read the version where I change the characters into original characters in the real world, add scenes, and revise everything on Wattpad (currently ongoing). You can also find other ongoing stories by me there. Leave a vote! My username is Jamie Glen. You can find me on the profile side of the search results.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Previously on Hyrule Castle High_

_After their parents are killed in a car crash, Link and his low-functioning autistic sister Aryll go to live with their grandma in Hyrule. He meets a boy named Shadow, who turns out to be a long lost twin. Shadow's father, Ganondorf, and Link's father, Ravio, had been foster kids together, but had a falling out when Ganondorf's wife, Hilda, died giving birth to Link and Shadow. They split ways, each with one son, and never spoke again._

_A mysterious benefactor who later turned out to be Ganondorf donated money for Aryll's expensive care and education. By the end of the year, due to circumstances, that donation has dried up, and Link is now faced with the task of finding a way to provide for his family despite being only fifteen._

_Zelda Harkinian, the local senator's daughter and one of Link's long time friends, realized that she, or rather he, was trans, and began living as "Sheik" in secret until outed by the media. While his mother is supportive, his father is a different story. After meeting Groose and deciding to begin to transition fully, Sheik finds himself disowned by his own father, Johannes. Nowadays, Sheik struggles to live with the rejection, blaming himself for his parents' marriage problems that arose because of his trans identity._

_Shadow Dragmire, son of the business mogul Ganondorf, is a vegan with a heart condition—literally. After a severe heart attack at the beginning of last year, he was given an indeterminate life span before he would need a heart transplant. With limited physical ability due to his health, he made the most of the situation, hanging out with friends, especially Link and Sheik, and of course constantly butting heads with his father. He learns, along with the authorities, that Ganondorf has been conducting illegal experiments on animals in an attempt to save Shadow's life. Unfortunately, one of these "animals" turns out to be a sentient being named Krad, and Ganondorf is sent to prison for aggravated assault and torture and his businesses and assets are seized by the government—thus Aryll's care money drying up and Link having to work. Shadow's other best friend, Vaati, seems to have had something terrible happen to him, but he won't speak of it, and he returned to his Picori homeland._

_Depressed about everything and trying to survive and escape lonliness, Shadow falls for a strange boy named Vio, a foster kid with a penchant for science and a sociopathic, almost psychopathic personality. Their relationship has unhealthy consequences, but eventually Vio breaks down and admits he doesn't want to be like he is anymore and doesn't want to hurt people. From then on, the two are allowed to be together under supervision, but Shadow isn't convinced that Vio is so bad in the first place._

_In an attempt to return Krad to his dimension, the Hyrulean government decides to open a portal to it. Around this time the Hyrule Triforce and Lorule Triforce appear, each piece connected to a person._

_For Hyrule: Sheik for Wisdom, Ganondorf for Power, Vio for Courage._

_For Lorule: Midna for Power, Shadow for Wisdom, and Link for Courage._

_When Krad enters the portal, he reveals his true identity as Demise, and attacks Hyrule. The Triforce wielders work together to save it, but it is Vio and Shadow who finally accomplish the deed._

_However, during the fight, Vio is fatally wounded, sending Shadow into another heart attack. Vio passes away in the hospital, where it is discovered that he is an organ donor, and that he and Shadow happen to be a perfect match._

_When Shadow awakes, it is to find Vio's heart has been transplanted into him without his knowledge or permission._

* * *

It was a new school year, again. Shadow wished he could say the summer had flown by and he'd miss it, but it hadn't been that type of summer.

First, there was the fact that he was basically in rehab the whole time. Not for drugs (excuse you), like a normal teenager. Was that normal?

Heck, what WAS normal these days?

Fifteen and he still didn't know . . .

No, it was for his heart transplant six months ago. Those things aren't the easiest to recover from. After the first few weeks, things weren't bad, but he was still constantly doing physical therapy, working with doctors, blah blah blah blah blah . . .

On the upside, his physical activity only got better and better. He could run, bike, skateboard, wrestle . . . All the things he couldn't do before.

He should be happy, right?

He went skating with Link, went to the gym with Sheik, they all went swimming at the beach, and it was amazing . . .

It was just . . .

Link had Nabooru. Sheik had Groose. Even Midna had a girlfriend, and she was way way waaaaay in the closet.

As if looking in the mirror at his blasted chest scar wasn't enough of a reminder every day of who he'd lost. It was a reminder again, as he buttoned up his shirt.

_Vio's gone, and he's never coming back._

His fingers fumbled with his tie. He wasn't sure why he bothered to dress up for the first day of school. He hadn't dressed up since the Academy, when he had to dress up in a uniform every day.

He just needed today to be special. He needed to show everyone that, _hey, I'm fine! Don't worry about me! I don't cry every night thinking about my dead boyfriend. Who gave his heart to me._

_Literally gave his heart to me._ He abandoned the mucked up tie to focus on his hair. It was past his shoulder blades, now. He let most of it hang down, only using some of it to create two braids from his temples to the back of his head.

_I have to show Vio I'm going to be okay, that his sacrifice wasn't in vain!_

He put on his jacket, buttoned it, and straightened it. He took a deep breath. _But all I want to do is give up._

He walked out of his room.

Ganondorf was in the kitchen. It smelled like tofu breakfast. With no work to do since his companies had all been seized and sold by the government, and nowhere to go since he was on house arrest, Ganondorf had thrown himself into making vegan food for Shadow with a vengeance. It was like he was trying to make up for every mistake he'd ever made to Shadow. It didn't go unnoticed.

"Hey, Dad," Shadow said.

Ganondorf looked up from a steaming pan of scrambled tofu. "Hey!" He put the food on a plate and set it on the counter bar for Shadow, but Shadow wasn't hungry. Ganondorf came around and looked Shadow over. "Dressing up, eh?" he said. A flash of worry crossed his face, just for an instant before he could hide it. "Here," he said, reaching up and undoing Shadow's tie. As he tied it correctly, he asked, "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Yes," Shadow answered firmly.

"You don't have to go back to school right away, you know. I can talk to your teachers . . ."

"No. I don't want to be special. I want to be normal. You know?"

Ganondorf nodded.

Shadow tucked his newly tied tie into his jacket.

Ganondorf placed his hands on either side of Shadow's face. "You will call me if you need anything, right?"

Shadow tried not to seem pleading. This summer had been weird with hid dad home all the time, but while before that would have been basically hell for him, this time they'd actually gotten closer. He wanted to collapse into his dad's arms, forget about school, forget about life, forget about _everything_, maybe play some games, watch some TV. There wasn't much longer he had with his dad before the court date.

Yeah, the court date, when the stupid Hylian royalty would decide what punishment to give Ganondorf for trying to save Shadow.

_Everything's my fault, Vio's death, Dad's arrest. Why am I so goddamned important?! Everything would be better if I just didn't . . ._

There was a court date. He had to learn how to get along without his dad. School had to happen.

_I can't let Vio down!_

So he didn't collapse into his dad's arms. He forced himself to turn away and sit in the stool and stare at his food.

Ganondorf went to tidy up the kitchen. "I was reading today, about Lorule."

"Oh, yeah?" Now that he looked at his food, he struggled to figure out how to eat it, when he really just wanted to abandon it.

"Yeah! I was thinking we could vacation there someday. I guess they have some pretty good views of the Void."

"That makes sense. Midna was saying they have secret connection to the Twilight Realm, which is basically ALL void. She's been spending all summer trying to prove it while fixing the Twilight Mirror."

"Probably going to have a war at some point," Ganondorf said, gathering all the dishes and pans into the sink. "What with Lorule meddling in Twili affairs." He placed a box on the counter and went back to washing dishes. "I made you a lunch. It's a fake beef sandwich."

"Oh, neat." He knew his dad was just trying to get his mind off things, to get him to eat. It usually worked. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Could I just have some Rabbitland snacks?"

Ganondorf slowed his incessant scrubbing. Then stopped and opened a cupboard. "Of course, son . . ."

"I'm sorry," Shadow said as his dad set the box of snacks in front of him and took his breakfast away. "I don't mean to waste food."

"I'll pack it for later." His dad was using that voice again, the loud, confident one that left no room for argument. "Don't worry about it!"

Shadow didn't smile, but he felt a little better. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Sheik yawned. He and Groose were in Groose's way-larger-than-necessary bathroom. Sheik was using makeup to make his face look less feminine, as well as cover up the unfortunate spots of adolescence that crowded his cheeks at the moment. After that he mussed up his short, spiky blond hair, which today wouldn't behave no matter what he did. It came off as hat hair. _Sounds like a beanie day._

He looked to his left. Groose was staring intently at the mirror, hands molding his signature pompadour carefully until no strand was out of place. Sheik grinned and walked behind him, kissing his shoulder on the way to leaving the bathroom. Groose always took longer than him.

So he went rummaging through Groose's clothes to find a beanie or hat until he thought Groose must not have a hat.

Sad, he pulled one of his own from the box of clothes he kept over here and slipped the dark blue thing over his head. He slipped his hands into his gray hoodie pockets and sat on Groose's bed, leaning against the headboard, eyes closing. _Maybe I can catch a nap before we leave._

They did this every morning before sun up. They'd meet outside Sheik's, since Groose got his license as soon as he turned sixteen, then they'd either go to the gym or else jog outside. Then they would go to Groose's house and take turns showering before getting ready for school. Groose had to keep in shape for the Loftwing games in the fall. Sheik just sort of came along. He'd never been much of a sports person before he started dating Groose.

Now it was like sports time, all the time.

Not that he minded. No matter how much time he spent with Groose, it never seemed to be enough. And any time he spent away from his own house, from his dad, was a relief.

"You ready, Z?" Groose snapped him out of his thoughts.

Sheik sat up suddenly. "Yes." He stood up, checking Groose out in his blue button up shirt and tan shorts. "You look good," Sheik said.

Groose grinned. "Thanks! You do, too. Well—"

"Except for the hair, I know." Sheik chuckled. "This mess ain't going ANYWHERE today."

"Daaaaang, on the first day of school, too."

"Right? Why is my hair always against me?"

"Well whatever, you still look bomb. Let's go!"

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Granny chided for the fiftieth time as Link ran from the kitchen.

"Grandma!" Link responded, as usual. They had this fight every day, it seemed. Link would be talking about starting school, Granny would bring up when dinner time was and when he needed to be home, and Link would remind her that he would be working after school and wouldn't be home in time for dinner. "Aryll needs care, and we can't afford it if I don't work!"

"What about your education? You can't work AND go to school. Not at your age! You're only fifteen!"

"Linebeck says I can do my homework in the shop. We barely get any customers, so it'll be _fine_, I _promise_." He grabbed his backpack from the spot by the door where he'd left it before breakfast.

Granny had tears in her eyes. Link looked away from her.

"You still live under my roof, child. I make the rules."

Link sighed. "Grandma—"

"I have that job at the supermarket. I can make ends meet."

Anger filled Link's chest. He gave her a determined look. "You shouldn't have to do that, Grandma! You can't be on your feet all day! You have to take care of yourself!"

Granny rose to her full height—a full three inches shorter than Link, now. "I'm your grandmother. I will do this."

Link placed his hands on her shoulders. "Grandma . . . You have to let me take care of you. Both of you."

He watched as Granny's mouth twitched and she swallowed a few times. Then, she said, "This isn't how it should be."

Link pulled her into a hug. "I know, Grandma, but we'll manage. Right? We always do."

"We always do. That's right, dear."

He pulled away. "I'll be back around nine."

"I'll be waiting."

"Grandma, you should sleep—"

She glared at him.

Link laughed. "Okay, you win. See you at nine. Bye, Grandma." He called into the living room. "ARYLL ARYLL ARYLL!"

"LINK LINK LINK!" Noting that the argument had stopped, Aryll came careening out of the living room, one hand behind her back, in the other a drawing that she held up. "DRAW!"

Link took it. "A seagull? Awesome!"

Aryll pulled her other hand from behind her and held out her small telescope. "Take," she said.

"What? You want me to take this to school?"

Aryll nodded.

"That's a big responsibility, Aryll. I don't know how I feel about it."

"Trust. Big brother."

"Well jeez, I guess I have to, huh? I won't let you down, Aryll. I'll bring it back safe."

Aryll nodded solemnly. She held a hand up, and Link gave her a light high five. Then Aryll went scurrying back to the living room. Link smiled happily. It had taken her all summer to learn to give him a high five. Her autism made it difficult for her to touch people, but she had focused every day on getting used to it just so she could hold his hand. She hadn't held his hand yet, but a high five was a big accomplishment. Her biggest yet. It made him smile every single time thinking he was that important to her.

Of course he had to take care of her. He had to. He would do anything if it meant making her smile.

* * *

Shadow got off the bus outside the steps to the giant Hyrule Castle High building. He had only begun to climb the steps when a gray-blue blur bounded down the steps and collided with him.

"SHADOW!"

"Whoa! Dude!" Shadow struggled to keep his footing so they both didn't end up toppling down the stairs. "Sheik, what the heck!" He laughed.

Sheik pulled back from the hug and grinned. "Knew it! Knew I'd make you smile! You ready for school?"

"I guess . . ."

Grabbing his hand, Sheik led him up the steps. "I already got your schedule for you, and I color coded it, just like Link's, so we've got Geometry and History together, okay?"

"Why do I feel like you have this all planned?"

Sheik grinned. "Not my first rodeo. Oh! I was gonna give you this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a USB.

Shadow took it. "What is it?"

"A playlist. I put a bunch of songs on there I think you'll really like. I used to do that for Link after his parents . . . Well, yeah. They helped him sleep, and I know you're not sleeping, so . . ."

"Oh," Shadow said, tearing up. "Gee, prince, you rock."

Sheik grinned and quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of which! Here comes the big lug, now!"

Link had emerged from around a corner. He was dressed in a green polo shirt and his usual baggy tan pants. He grinned widely as he came up to them. "Hey, guys!" He looked over Shadow. "Wow! Special occasion?"

"Yeah, well, haha, you know . . . New school year."

"What's so special about that? It's just another school year."

Sheik was sending Link a look, but it went straight over his head.

"I mean," Shadow said, trying to deflect, "I almost didn't _get_ here."

"Oh, that's right! You had to do all those remedial classes cuz you fell behind."

"Yeah."

Link grinned and threw an arm around Shadow's neck. "Well, you're here! And in the same grade as us! That's AWESOME!"

They walked to homeroom together, and then Sheik left them to go shepherd some first years, leaving Link and Shadow alone.

"How's Uncle G?" Link asked Shadow as they found a place to sit.

"It's REALLY weird when you call him that."

"What? It's technically true."

"He's fine, I guess."

"How about you? I miss you living at home. With us."

Shadow glanced at Link in surprise. "Dude, we hang out all the time," he said.

"It's not the same," Link said. "You know it isn't. We used to have meals together, and make Aryll laugh til she couldn't breathe. She keeps drawing pictures of you."

"She only draws pictures of seagulls."

"Yeah, except when she's got something really important to say."

"She misses me."

"Yeah."

Shadow hadn't realized his presence was missed. He went to Link's house all the time, played with Aryll, cooked with Grandma. And yet they still missed his presence in the house. He thought fondly of the room he and Link used to share. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's just Dad might be going to jail for a really long time, and I want to spend as much time with him as possible before that."

A cloud crossed Link's face.

"What?!" Shadow asked. "I'm fine! I'm fine, really!" He was fiddling with the buttons on his jacket.

Link wouldn't look away, and he had this intense look in his eyes. They were green like their biological father, Ravio. "I'll always be here for you, Shadow. You'll always be my brother."

Shadow smiled.

* * *

"Oh my gaawwwwwwd," Shadow whined at lunch when he joined the others. "Why is there so much homework? It's the first day!"

"I'm really excited about it!" Sheik rattled with an almost insane look. "I've missed studying!"

"You're WEIRD," Shadow said.

"I'm a _prince_," Sheik retorted. "And you have some catching up to do!"

"I'd argue with you, but I don't want you to sick your body guard on me." Shadow smirked at Groose, who sat next to Sheik.

Groose's eyebrows slanted downward on the outside. "I wouldn't beat up Sheik's best friend."

Shadow leaned forward and placed his chin on both hands. "Oooooo, does that mean you're MY bodyguard as well?!"

"You need a bodyguard?" Groose suddenly became very serious. "Is somebody threatening you?"

"Uh . . . No? Not yet?"

Link spoke up with his mouth half full of sandwich. "What do you need him for when you got me?"

"Come on, Link, Groose is like twice your size! AND he's a jock!"

Link bristled. "So?!" He glared at Groose.

"Easy, easy!" Sheik said, raising his hands. "You're both very _strong_, now can we eat our food in peace?"

"You know," Groose mentioned, completely oblivious to any negativity that had just transpired, "Link is pretty strong. Have you ever considered playing sports?"

Caught off guard by the invite, Link muttered, "Uh . . . No."

"You should!"

Link considered it for a moment, then sighed sadly. "I don't have time . . ."

"Oh. That's too bad."

"Yeah," said a new voice. "Now you'll just have to bash each other in the street to see who's the strongest!"

Sheik grinned. "Midna!"

Midna sat down next to Shadow and set her tray on the table. "Sup, princey?"

"It's good to see you. I feel like we having hung out in ages!"

"That's cuz we haven't. I've been stuck in the Twili estate trying to convince the court I'm not a traitor despite the fact I used to have the damn Loforce of Power. I can't go ANYWHERE without being followed, and they're always giving me things to do."

Shadow made his own eye twitch. "Blah blah blah, politics. What ever happened to all you need is love?"

"Right?!"

Sheik asked, "How's Malon?"

Midna's cheeks turned a dark pink. "Uh. She's good. I mean." She broke into a fangy smile. "She's fiiiiiiiiine."

Sheik giggled.

The cafeteria doors suddenly burst open loudly.

"ALRIGHT PEASANTS! THE KING HAS ARRIVED!"

A willowy figure of a boy strode into the cafeteria, followed by two others. He wasn't particularly tall, but he walked with a swing like he owned the place, and he posed with his hands on his hips. He wore clothes that looked straight out of a fashion magazine, with necklaces and bracelets, everything lavenders and greys and golds. He had pale skin, and hair as white as snow that fell in straight, silky strands to his waist. His hair covered his right eye, but his left was startlingly crimson.

Shadow leapt to his feet. "VAATI?"

Vaati turned at the sound of Shadow's voice. His face split into a grin. "Hey, Shay-Shay!"

Shadow ignored protocol and ran to his friend, throwing his arms around him and hugging him fiercely. "What are you DOING here? I thought you were still in Minish land!"

"I wanted to surprise you," Vaati responded shyly, returning the hug.

Shadow pulled away to get a good look at Vaati, and Vaati asked, "Are you happy to see me?"

"Of course I'm happy to see you!" Shadow cried. "I can't believe you're really here!" He hugged Vaati again.

Vaati smiled happily.

Back at the table, Midna was scowling. "Oh god, HE'S here. When did he transfer?"

"Huh?" Sheik asked. "You mean Vaati? You two know each other?"

"No! Not him, _Zant._"

Sheik looked again as Shadow and Vaati spoke completely animatedly. He'd only ever heard Midna talk about Zant. He'd never seen him in person. He glanced at the two people who came with Vaati and currently stood behind him. One of them was a wiry fellow, thickly built, who wore a red and black skin tight top that couldn't possibly be up to school code and baggy black pants. He had the red eyes of a Sheikah, and his black hair was pulled into a top knot. He wore combat boots, and his neck and ears were covered in gold jewelry. Whoever he was, he wasn't Zant. So Sheik looked at the other guy. This guy was a Twili, thin as a reed, with wavy, noodly arms with noodly fingers and a noodly neck. He wore traditional Twili robes like it was normal every day wear. Something about him was just _off putting_. And not just the way he looked or dressed. At least not to Sheik.

"Oh-kay," Sheik droned.

"The council must have put him here to watch me," Midna said with a groan.

Shadow and Vaati had finally stopped reminiscing long enough for Shadow to ask about the other two. "Who are these guys?"

Vaati grinned. "They're my boarding mates! This is Kohga," he gestured at the one with the top knot. "And this is Zant."

"_Zant?_" Shadow scrunched his nose without thinking. "Aren't you that Twili guy? Why are you living in a boarding house?"

Zant tapped his unsettlingly long fingers together as he answered. When he opened his mouth, Shadow had to hold his bile down. Zant's mouth had criss crosses at the ends that made them look like they'd been sliced or something. It was _weird_. "My elders have decided I need more experience in _Hyrule_. So I've transferred from my Twili abode to live with _Hyruleans_." He spoke of Hyrule and Hyruleans with such a condescending tone.

A gravely moan interrupted them. It was from Kohga, who was inspecting his nails, which were insanely sharp. "Are you DONE?" he asked. "I'm TIRED and want to SIT DOWN."

Vaati gave a fake pout. "Awww, tired already, Kohga?"

"YES. That grand entrance took it _right out of me_." He wiped his brow dramatically.

Shadow grinned. "You can come sit with us!" His grin died. He remembered that Zant and Midna didn't get along. "Or, well . . ."

"That's a fabulous idea!" Zant cried, already headed for the table, where Midna was quickly collecting her things.

Shadow mouthed "sorry" to her. He turned back to Vaati. "What do you say?"

Vaati had this look on his face, slightly sharp, his eyes narrowed just slightly. "Is that Zelda and Link?"

"Yeah, but it's Sheik, now, remember?"

Vaati gasped, looking ashamed. "Oh! Right, I'm so sorry. Um. I . . . Guess we can all sit together. If it will make you happy."

Beetles bounced around in Shadow's stomach, or that's what it felt like. What was Vaati's beef with Sheik and Link?! Had he imagined it? "Great!" he said with a grin. He took Vaati's arm. "Let's go!"

* * *

**A/N: Oh, dear, drama llama!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hello lovely readers! Here's a new chapter for you~ Thanks so much for reading and following and faving, it means a lot to me!**

**just a fan of fics: Thank you! Although I have to say this whole idea was inspired by The Weekly Hyrule News by BatNeko (Which you all must read if you haven't-heck, maybe I should reread it! I haven't in years.) It's BatNeko's fault I've fallen in love with the whole slice of life high school drama genre . . .**

**Ignitious: Hey there friend! Thanks for the plug to the first book, you're awesome!**

**ENJOY~~~**

* * *

Sheik was feeling a bit overwhelmed. It started being just him and his friends, and then Vaati and his new posse came in. Now suddenly there was so much going on at their table.

Across the table, Midna was completely ignoring the existence of Zant, who had sat right next to her and was chatting his head off with his unsettlingly criss crossed mouth. Sheik couldn't tell if he was just oblivious, or if he knew he made Midna uncomfortable.

To his left, Groose's entire Loftwing team had appeared and were talking sports loudly. Sheik was interested only slightly. He wanted to get more into te Loftwing games because it was important to Groose, but really, the only thing that interested him currently was riding a Loftwing. That sounded bomb. He kept catching sentences that would pull him away from the other five thousand conversations going on at the same time.

To his right were Link and Nabooru, thankfully only conversing quietly.

Then there were Shadow and Vaati, who, despite having sat at the table originally, had somehow migrated a little away and were only paying attention to each other.

Sheik had no one to talk to.

He turned to the final person at the table.

Kohga.

He couldn't remember seeing Kohga before. His angular eyes were either cruel or bitter, and Sheik couldn't tell which. They wandered around, his mouth in a bored snarl.

Swallowing his feelings of intimidation, Sheik said, "Hi."

He must not have said it loud enough, because Kohga didn't turn to him or acknowledge that he'd spoken at all. Sheik gnawed on his lower lip, pointer fingers tapping his water cup. He looked closer at the gold chains around Kohga's neck. He noticed that there were symbols in gold between the chain links, ancient symbology. And not the kind you'd buy at the party store. He realized that everything, down to the way Kohga moved, was trained. Even most with Sheikah blood didn't practice the art of it. He perked up immediately. "You're a practicing Sheikah!"

Red eyes glanced sideways at him.

Sheik grinned. "I've gotten into it myself. I mean, I've been trained in the basics since childhood considering I'm the Prince of Destiny and all—"

Kohga placed his own water cup on the table, leaned one arm on the table and placed his chin in his other hand so that the fingers were splayed across his cheek. Sheik saw he had an onyx ring with the Sheikah eye on his middle finger. So cool!

Encouraged, Sheik continued, "I've been studying the language and history, but I just can't get the pronunciation. I guess that's something you have to have taught orally to you. Have you learned it? I can only read it."

Kohga was smiling, but for some weird reason he kept tapping his middle finger, the one with the ring on it, over and over and over until Sheik thought he was doing it to get his attention.

"What?" Sheik asked.

Kohga just blinked, still smiling condescendingly.

Sheik looked closer at the ring. It was the Sheikah eye with the teardrop underneath. There was nothing strange about it. What was—

He sat back quickly. "Oh." Hard to tell because it was a ring, but the eye was upside down. In fact, the way the eyes in his chains sat, they were upside down, too. "You're Yiga."

Grin tightening even more, Kohga turned away again, straddling the bench and looking literally anywhere but at anyone at their table.

A flush of embarrassment crept up Sheik's face. _Of course he doesn't want to talk to me._

"What does that mean?" Link said to his right, startling him. "What's a Yiga?"

Kohga glared at him disdainfully. Then stared at his fingernails and said, "Oh, right, they don't teach you about us in state-sponsored schools." He turned his glare on Sheik. "Do they?"

"Why are you looking at me like that? It's not my fault!"

Link broke in, getting wise to the tension. "I don't get it! What's a Yiga?!"

"Not 'A' Yiga, you dunce," said Kohga. "I AM Yiga."

Sheik broke in snarkily, "Which means you were originally of the Sheikah."

Kohga stood up, clenching his fists. "I was _never_ a Sheikah. I was born Yiga and I'll die Yiga."

Sheik folded his arms across his chest. "The Yiga isn't even a clan, it's just a bastardized version of Sheikah."

"THE SHEIKAH BETRAYED US!" Kohga's hands came slamming down on the table, nose wrinkled in fury, teeth bared. His red eyes sparked brighter in the fluorescent lights of the cafeteria.

Link had stood up as well, putting an arm between Sheik and Kohga. "Whoooa, dude. Calm down."

Recovering himself, Sheik said calmly at the still fuming Kogha, "That happened thousands of years ago." He shook his head. "There's no need for the clans to fight now."

Slowly, Kohga's face lost its intensity, but remained hard. He straightened from the table. "You _would_ say that, wouldn't you?" he said wearily. He left the table without another word, leaving the rest of the table to stare at him.

Shadow had wandered over during the ruckus, Vaati slung around his shoulders, and Vaati asked, "What was that about?"

Sheik raised his hands palm upwards and sighed. "Clan feud."

* * *

Shadow was ecstatic about having Vaati back in his life. He was so happy about it that sometimes—sometimes—he forgot about Vio.

They hung out right after school with Link and Sheik. Nabooru had to work for the school paper, and Midna had to go with Zant to the Twilight Estate.

As soon as they walked onto the school's skate park, Shadow was set upon by everyone. First the triplets, then Saria, then everyone else. He'd been skating before now, but this was the first time at school, and some of the skaters here he hadn't seen again since before his heart attack.

"You're back!"

"Duuuuude, looking good!"

"Aw, man, I can't WAIT to see you skate!"

Shadow grinned in the center of the admirers when suddenly he spotted a familiar, unsettling mask.

Skull Kid. The silent, skilled loner of the park, dressed in his ratty hoodie and orange camo pants. He hadn't grown a single inch since last year. Shadow was taller than him now.

Before Shadow even knew what was happening, Skull Kid had braved the crowd to sneak right up to Shadow, and _hugged him_.

Shadow gasped. The second he broke out of his stupor to return the hug, though, Skull Kid was already gone, back on his BMX bike and pedaling to the other side of the park furiously.

It didn't upset Shadow. Skull Kid was beyond anti-social. That small gesture meant the world to him.

Everyone else was gaping or else chatting about it.

Link punched Shadow's arm. "Told you he missed you."

"Yeah," Shadow responded. "I had no idea how much, though."

Sheik's eyes were bugging out of his head. "He HUGGED you!"

Shadow placed his hands behind his head proudly. "Hehe, of course! I'm irresistible!"

His friends laughed.

* * *

Vaati chose to walk Shadow home. They were walking hand in hand. Part of it was Vaati's Picori culture showing through—the Picori were big on physical contact, hugs, hand holding, even sleeping together in piles—and part of it was definitely that Shadow needed some hand holding after his first day of school.

"God, it really sucks!" Shadow whined. "I'm so so SO freaking happy you moved back, Vaati. Link has to work every day now, and Sheik is running for student body president, so HE can't hang out, either." _And Vio's dead_, he thought, but didn't want to say it out loud.

"I'm happy, too," Vaati said. "I thought I was going to have to go to Castle High, but Ezlo forgave me for dropping out last year, and offered to pay for it."

"Yeah!" Shadow turned to him. "What happened, anyway?"

Vaati looked away. "Oh, um . . . just some stuff. Mistakes."

Shadow didn't want to press, but he felt a little sad Vaati didn't want to tell him. "You don't have to talk about it," he said. "I won't judge you."

Vaati blushed. "I know. But I judge myself." He looked back at Shadow. "But it's in the past! I've completely moved on, and so, I'm never going to speak of it again." He grinned brightly. "You don't have to worry, Shay-Shay! I'm here to stay this time. I won't leave you again, I promise."

Shadow smiled and squeezed his hand. "I never thought you left me, I was just worried about you. Is everything okay?"

Vaati nodded. "Like I said. It's in the past."

"Okay."

They kept walking.

"So . . ." Said Vaati, after a period of silence.

Shadow tried not to frown. He knew this was coming.

"How are you doing?"

There was a longer silence as they kept walking, Shadow staring at the ground, trying to find a way to talk without falling to pieces. He felt tension rising as he was fully aware of Vaati waiting for his reply.

"It's okay," Vaati said, shattering his expectations. "I understand."

Somehow, that gave Shadow the strength to speak up. "I miss him. I miss him every day, and I think about him, even when I'm not thinking about him, he's there, and I try to be normal, to feel normal, but I don't. I don't think I'll ever feel normal again."

"Tell me about him," Vaati suggested. "I only knew him a little bit, but only way before you started dating."

"Where do I start?!"

"What would you do now? If he was here instead of me?"

It immediately came to mind. "We'd go to the Milk Bar."

"The _what?!_" Vaati screeched.

Shadow laughed. "I know, I know . . . We weren't supposed to be there, but Ingo didn't care about minors being in his bar. Vio took me there all the time, and we got . . . we . . ." He broke off, feeling humiliated. "He got me into a lot of trouble. It was bad. But that's what we did. And it was great. I mean it was bad. I dunno." He stopped, face a flurry of confusion.

"What made it so great?"

Considering, Shadow finally said, "I'd forget about everything. About possibly dying at any minute, about Dad being in jail, at not being able to actually DO anything with my life. I couldn't skateboard, I couldn't even freaking _run_. What was I supposed to do with my time? I felt like everything was falling apart. Link was suddenly working ALL THE TIME, I wasn't speaking to Sheik because he's the reason Dad got sent to jail in the _first_ place, and I get that he did bad things, but I just don't think he deserves _jail_, you know?"

"You're worried about him, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds like you need to get your mind off of him."

Shadow let go of his hand and ran ahead a few paces, spinning and saying with a grin, "That's what was so great about Vio! I never thought about ANYTHING. We just did whatever we wanted to do, whenever we wanted to. And he always wanted to see me. Even when he was really mean, I knew he wanted to be with me. It's like we had this bond."

Vaati folded his arms, glancing away.

"What?" Shadow asked, pausing on the sidewalk.

"Nothing!" Vaati smiled, erasing the anxiety on his face from just a second ago. "Sounds like you really liked him."

Shadow looked into Vaati's eye, his brow knitting. "I _loved_ him, Vaati."

A slight flush appeared on Vaati's cheeks, and he began muttering, "I mean—really? Are you—I mean—you're just _teenagers_. Is it even possible to know what love even is—I mean—" He covered his face with a hand and made garbly noises. Then straightened and grabbed his elbows behind his back. "Never mind! I don't know what I'm saying!" He grinned widely, chuckling. Before Shadow could question him, or even really process any of his embarrassing mutters, Vaati stepped a little closer so he could see Shadow properly. "You said you still play guitar, is that true?"

Shadow grinned. "Yeah! It's all I had to do, so I'm really good now." He made a confident pose, pointing at his chest with his thumb. "If I do say so _myself_. I play as well as any of the guys I heard at the Milk Bar."

"I haven't heard you play in a while. Can we do that right now?"

"Sure!"

* * *

The day passed by quickly. Ganondorf was ecstatic to see Vaati and immediately invited him to stay over as long as he wished.

Vaati of course agreed. "I don't think my flatmates will mind," Vaati said. "And if they do, _boo hoo_."

Shadow took Vaati to his room and Vaati instantly gasped. "WOW. THERE'S AN ACTUAL BED IN HERE!"

Shadow scratched the back of his neck self consciously. "Y-yeah, Sheik made me clean everything out after my heart attack. All the clothes, old food containers, dirty old plushies, everything, and he's been on my case about it ever _since_ because, as he says, dying of germs would be a terrible end to my journey." He tapped his forefingers together. As someone who had an organ transplant, Shadow would forever have to be cautious of getting sick.

He figured he could handle it.

The next few hours had been spent on Vaati blaring into the karaoke machine while Shadow shredded on his guitar. In between songs, or even in the middle, they'd get deep into some conversation or other, bringing up old jokes, old memories, talking about what they'd been up to.

Shadow demonstrated his guitar abilities and how he'd basically spent the last several months in summer school.

Vaati described having to save up to travel to Hyrule, being a mail deliverer at his home and all the obscure, out of the way places he'd had to climb and hike to on the tiny, technologically limited island.

It was obvious to Shadow that some things had changed, though.

Well, Vaati was still obsessed with fashion.

He was also still obsessed with _touching_ him. Where Vaati was from, constant, almost invasive physical contact was the norm, so Shadow didn't mind.

He hadn't minded.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

It began as a tiny note in the back of his mind, when Vaati would pat his hand, or his knee, or hug him out of nowhere. Then it rose to actual irritation the more it happened. Shadow tried to just shrug it off, because he felt ridiculous. This was _Vaati_. And Vaati had always counted on him to not be weird about it, ever since they met as kids and everybody thought Vaati was a clingy brat when actually, he was just doing what he'd done at home.

_I was the only one to not make fun of him or get mad. I never got mad._

_Holy shit, am I mad?!_

"Hey, Shay-Shay, do you wanna get ice cream? It's still early." Vaati was dancing in a circle,

Shadow silenced his guitar strings with the palm of his hand and stood up. "Dude, it's like 9pm." He set his guitar back on its stand.

"Hot chocolate then? I want to see if that cute bookstore is still here." Quickly, Vaati pranced across the room and wrapped his arms around Shadow's neck. "Pleeeeeease?!"

Suddenly Shadow couldn't take it anymore. He took Vaati's arms and shoved them off of him, saying, more sharply than he intended. "No thanks. I don't want to." Vaati just stared at him, and he felt _horrible_. He dropped his face in his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that, I swear." _What's wrong with me?! Here my best friend in the whole fucking world is back in my life, and I go and ruin it like this!_

Vaati didn't say anything, which meant he was waiting for Shadow to get himself together, which he would only do if Shadow had actually hurt his feelings, which OF COURSE he had—

"It's Vio, isn't it?"

Slowly, Shadow raised his head. "What?"

Vaati was looking at him with sadness. He didn't seem hurt at all.

Shadow thought about what he'd said. He realized that in his entire life, there'd only been two people he'd been really physical with. Like, sure, he hugged Sheik and wrestled with Link and Aryll, all that kind of thing with most of his friends and family. But he'd never slept in the same bed as Link, or cuddled in Sheik's lap while watching TV. There were only two people he could say he'd ever been _that_ physical with. One was Vaati.

The other was Vio.

His throat caught.

Vaati stepped forward, raising his arms. "Close your eyes," he said. Shadow did. Vaati hugged him, and Shadow wasn't mad anymore, but he still didn't understand what Vaati was doing until he said, "I want you to pretend I'm Vio."

Shadow's whole chest burned, the lump in his throat making it difficult to breathe. He wanted it so badly! So he hugged Vaati back, clutching him desperately, trying to convince himself it was Vio. "I need you," he said through the tears. "Where are you? I need you!"

Vaati, for his part, stood there quietly, patting Shadow's back comfortingly. All day he'd watched his friend fight it off, but now he finally fell apart. _It's good I'm here_, Vaati thought. _Totally worth everything_. His heart hurt. At first, he thought it hurt for Shadow, and he held to that as long as he could, but he couldn't deny the truth. He was embarrassed, and hated himself, but . . .

He was jealous. He liked holding Shadow, but he was angry that Shadow was thinking about somebody else.

_Why am I so selfish?! His boyfriend DIED!_

Despite knowing this, the feeling wouldn't leave, and Vaati found himself staring bitterly at the wall behind Shadow, even as Shadow's tears soaked his shirt.

* * *

That Saturday, Nabooru walked on the pavement, her high ponytail flapping in the wind behind her, sleek and long. Her thoughts were occupied with her outfit. It was a daily battle, really. She didn't want to wear so much jewelry and makeup that she couldn't do her job comfortably, but she wanted to still look _good_. She'd settled on an almost full face of makeup, golden eyeshadow, red winged eyeliner, and mauve lipstick, but she'd held back from the gold glitter blush.

Barely.

It looked so good with this eyeshadow . . .

For clothes she'd gone much simpler, her dark moss skinny jeans so tight they were almost leggings, a yellow, sleeveless crop top to match her face, and a light, cotton button up that she'd tied in the front at her navel.

For the more practical decisions, she'd forgone her large gold hoop earrings, opting for smaller, pin-sized studs, rubies in the first set of holes, pearls in the second. Her shoes were sturdy boots—the working kind, not the fashion kind. Although she felt she made them look pretty fabulous. Her hair wasn't a problem. It stayed mostly out of the way, but if she needed it especially out of the way, her ponytail swiftly became a bun.

No problemo.

Finally, the last, and utterly worst, most practical decision she ever made, was her nails. She brought up one hand and stared at the things, filed down almost as far as they could go. They were painted gold, because she couldn't resist, but she knew by the end of the day the polish would be uselessly chipped.

She lowered her hand with a disgusted face, wanting to hurl. She missed typing with her long, gemmed and gelled squoval claws. The feeling of her fingerpads on the keyboard was just too weird . . .

She heaved a sigh. _It's worth it. It's worth it! Just think of all the fun you'll have with Link on that boat when you're done building it with him!_

"Hey, honey, c'mere why don't you?"

Her shoulders hunched automatically, her fingers gripping the bag over her shoulder. She lowered her head and kept walking.

"Where you going? Come show me some of that Gerudo lovin'!"

She ignored the whistles and catcalls, but couldn't help glancing to her left.

It was two men, in their forties maybe, scruffy faced and leering.

_Ugh! Don't they have better things to do? What makes them think I even want to talk to them?!_

"Stupid Gerudo slut!"

"Come on, just a smile!"

She rounded a corner and deflated, letting her feet carry her quickly away from the horrible men and their horrible comments.

_I'm only fifteen, but I have to deal with this crap! I could be their daughter._ She shook herself of it with a toss of her hair. _It doesn't matter. Soon I'll be at work, and Link will be there. He never treats me that way!_

In a few minutes she made it to Linebeck's. She walked up the disused sidewalk past the unkempt lawn and through the dilapidated gray front door. "Hello!" She announced.

A friendly voice answered immediately. "Nabs?"

Just hearing Link's voice made all the difference in the world. His blond-mopped head appeared behind the front desk, whole face leaning into a smile as he saw her with his bright blue eyes. "Hey, Link," she said, grateful.

Link pushed through the swing door of the desk and came her way. "How was the trip?"

_Should I tell him? About the men?_ It was embarrassing. She was still upset about it. It was only because she was Gerudo. Those men would never dare if she was a Hylian girl. "It was . . . you know . . . boring."

Link scratched behind his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I liked when we traveled together, too."

Nabooru smiled. Yeah, Link would never call her Gerudo slurs. He wouldn't even think about catcalling anybody, or even think anybody would be catcalled. He never saw her for her race. He was truly colorblind. _Yeah, I won't tell him. He wouldn't understand anyways._

He took her hand. "Come look at what Linebeck got in the last shipment! There's something I really want to show you."

Heart fluttering happily, Nabooru followed him through the grey wood shelves to the one marked with an old sign, "New Loot!" She watched him pull something off the shelf. It was a necklace with thick, golden beads held together on a heavy chain. In the center was a beautiful gold amulet with a deep ruby in the center.

Her mouth fell open in admiration. "Wow!"

"I know, right? Put it on!"

Nabooru arched back as Link held it out to her. "What!" she said in surprise, then chuckled and waved a hand. "I couldn't. It's pretty gaudy, isn't it?"

Link was still holding it up, eying her with a smirk. "You know you want to!"

She matched his smirk and her eyebrows lowered greedily. "You're right. Help me!"

Link stepped up and placed it around her neck, fastening it in the back, getting extremely close to her in the process. Nabooru tried to ignore how close he was, but his freckles were out for the whole world to see, splashed across his sun tanned face. She smiled as the butterflies got worse. They didn't calm down as Link stepped back.

"How does it look?" Nabooru asked with a hair flourish.

Link grinned madly. "Just like I thought!"

Nabooru blushed. "What?"

He put his hands in the pockets of his worn out jeans. "It looks really good against your skin."

She froze as if hit with a block of ice. "What do you mean?"

Link was still looking over her, making her blush harder. "It really brings out your coppery tone."

Nabooru's hands went behind her neck, ready to rip the necklace off. She paused, though, and asked, "What do you think about it?"

"Huh?" Link said with a confused, oblivious look. "I think you look beautiful. I tell you all the time." He ducked his head with a bashful grin, scratching the back of his neck yet again. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

She was glad she wore a full face of makeup. Hopefully it hid a little bit how much she blushed. _Link's not color blind_. She put her hands on her hips, desperate to alleviate how absolutely flustered she felt. "Do you think Linebeck would let me keep this?"

Link crossed his eyes. "PFFFFT!" He laughed. "He'd probably charge you for wearing it!"

Nabooru laughed along. "You're right!" She undid the clasp and set the necklace back on the shelf.

"Come on," Link said, heading back to the front desk.

Nabooru caught up to him, pausing to lean over and kiss his cheek before running past him.

He stopped and slapped his own face where she'd kissed him.

She giggled and flipped her hair.

* * *

Shadow surveyed the lawn outside Granny's house. _Needs mowing_. He looked above at the eaves. _Gutters are gross_. "GRANNY!" He shouted, knowing her bedroom window would be open. "DO YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR GUTTERS?!" Ever since he'd gotten his physical prowess back, he'd been looking for anything to do that involved using said physical prowess. "I CAN DO THAT!"

Granny's face appeared in the second story window. She leaned her chin on a tiny hand and smiled. "Hello, Shadow!"

Shadow sighed. _Just like her to ignore me._ "Hey! Did you hear what I said?" He put his hands on his hips indignantly. "This lawn ain't gonna mow itself!"

"Aryll's waiting for you," Granny said. "Come inside!"

His mouth curled in exasperation, but how could he be mad at Granny? She was only worried he'd overexert himself.

He walked through the front door. "HEY, PRINCEEEESS!"

Aryll came barreling down the stairs. _Thump thump thump thump—_ "Shady! Shady!"

Shadow's grin turned feral. "Sup, Aryll, Aryll, Aryll! Where's Link and Nabs?"

Granny spoke up while coming down the stairs. "Link and Nabooru have work today. They won't be back until later."

Aryll dragged Shadow to the living room by the hand and plopped herself on the couch. Shadow plopped next to her on his side and said, "Guess it's just you and me." He pretended to whine. "Awwwww."

Aryll bit her bottom lip with a grin, staring straight into Shadow's eyes. Aryll avoided touching and looking at everybody else, but ever since they'd first met, she'd always been able to touch him and look him in the eyes.

_Magic? Is it the Triforce piece I have? Link has one also. Maybe mine's extra special?_

He didn't know. He wasn't a science or magic or autism specialist. But being Aryll's personal teddy bear was basically awesomesauce with a _generous_ side of adorable _so it's not like he was going to complain_. He lunged at her and pulled her into a giant bear hug, making her laugh. He got up and threw her over his shoulder, running in circles around the room until she was heaving with laughter. He smiled happily as he set her down.

She raised her hands at him and hopped up and down.

"Again?" he asked. Then he grinned. _Aw, heck, why not? I Couldn't do this before my heart transplant!_

As he lifted her into the air again, his chest began to ache, but not from the strain.

_Thank you, Vio._

* * *

**A/N Can you say DrAmAaaaAAaAAAAAAA!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N HEY YOU! YES YOU! Are you in need of some reading material during quarantine?! Well you should go read The Moon and the Stars by my friend Ignitious! You can find it here and also on Wattpad where it has over 3k reads! Their username there is Ritzeline! It's got university! It's got drama! It's got serious stuff! It's got heartwarming stuff! It has an autistic Pit! Chapter 7 is my favorite! They also have a ton of other stories that you should all read!**

**CHECK THEM OUT!**

**And now for the chapter: It's a Link and Nabooru and Aryll chapter! **

**TW for autistic meltdown (I don't know if that needs a TW?) I did my best to represent a serious situation, but I can't promise I didn't mess it up, so please be careful while reading and take care of yourself!**

* * *

Nabooru covered her mouth as she swung the duster along the next shelf, sending clouds of dust careening into the air and to the floor, but she still coughed. "Goddess! Link, you got a handkerchief or something? This is brutal!" She looked at Link, who was taking a break behind the counter. He had his elbows on the counter, holding a brass telescope in his hands and looking through it at something across the store. Nabooru walked over and asked, "What's that?"

Link lowered it and smiled. "It's Aryll's telescope. She gave it to me today for good luck. Isn't that great?" His smile reached his ears, his nose crinkling and screwing up his freckles.

"That's adorable!" Nabooru said. "Can I see?"

Uncertainty crossed Link's face. "Um . . . I mean, I promised I'd take care of it." He shook his head and turned bright red. "Whatever! I trust you! Here!" He quickly held the telescope out, but Nabooru held a hand up with a reassuring smile.

"You keep it," she said. "You should never betray someone's trust, even with your friends."

"Is that a Gerudo saying?"

"You know? It is." She put a finger on her chin and a hand on her hip. "Sounds better in Gerudo though."

Suddenly the bells announced the back door opening, and Linebeck appeared in a worn out blue coat and looking like he hadn't slept in days. "What a load of absolute garbage!"

The two teenagers watched him take his stained coat off and plop it on a random shelf.

"Hey!" Nabooru complained. "I just cleaned that!"

Linebeck pouted. "Can't you see I've had a bad day, Nabby?" He made a tip top clatter in his heeled boots as he launched across the store and flopped dismally into a ratty old chair, the back of a hand splayed across his forehead. "I'm ruined!"

"That SHELF is ruined!"

"Were you treasure hunting?!" Link asked, leaning onto the counter so far his feet came off the ground.

"Oh, I was, I was," Linebeck crooned, taking part of his hair and twisting the water out of it and onto the ground. "But of course it turned out to be nothing! I thought it would be unguarded, but no such luck! Skulltulas everywhere."

Link giggled. "I think you mean hobo spiders. There's no skulltulas in Hyrule anymore."

Linebeck sat forward and pointed an accusatory finger at Link. "I tell you they were SKULLTULAS! One of these days you'll find I'm telling the truth!" He folded his arms and stuck his chin up, making Link chuckle to himself again.

Nabooru was staring at the sopping, dirty coat on her nicely cleaned shelf. "I'm not cleaning this up."

"It's what I pay you for, isn't it?"

"I'm an employee, not a housemaid."

"Bugger."

Link held up Aryll's telescope. "Too bad you didn't have this, huh, Linebeck? Could have seen the spiders from a miiiiiile away."

Linebeck raised an eyebrow at him, then suddenly his eyes went wide. "What do you have there?!"

Before Link could reply, Linebeck had jumped up and scrambled to the counter, snatching the telescope out of Link's hands. "Wh-what? Give that back!"

Nabooru ran back to the counter to help Link, but by then, Linebeck was already inspecting every corner of the telescope with his grubby fingers. "A masterpiece!" he said. "The real deal! Boy, do you have any idea how much this thing is worth?!"

_It's worth my head on a plate if it breaks!_ Link thought. "Give it back, Linebeck, please give it back!"

Suddenly Linebeck took it in both hands and twisted, and the telescope popped in half.

Link gasped.

Nabooru screamed, "LINEBECK!"

"Oh ho ho, don't worry!" Linebeck said. He held one of the halves out to Link. "Look in there, see those cracks?"

Link was so panicked that he didn't know what else to do but look. There was a slight space between the center of the telescope and the outer shell. He thought he saw something inside that space.

"Sometimes," Linebeck explained, "captains would hide their most precious documents inside those cracks. This is a genuine Hide A Thing Scope!"

"That's the stupidest name ever," Link said, lamenting. Nabooru placed a hand on his arm.

Linebeck looked at Nabooru. "Dear, could you—" He saw her newly filed down nails. "Nope." He used his own nails to fish something out of the space. It was a piece of folded paper. "Yes! REAL treasure!" He unfolded the decrepit paper carefully, trollololling all the time.

"What is it?" Link asked.

Linebeck said nothing for a few minutes, examining the paper shrewdly. Suddenly he held it in the air excitedly. "HAHAHA! YES! I KNOW EXACTLY WHO TO SELL THIS TO!" He began prancing around the store, clicking his heels. "OH, I'M GOING TO BE RICH RICH RICH!"

Link was finally out of shock enough to be angry. "What do you mean sell it?! You can't sell it!"

Linebeck stopped dancing. "What do you mean? Of course I can. It's my shop!"

Nabooru stepped in. "What he means is it doesn't belong to you. That's _Aryll's_."

Linebeck froze, then suddenly his whole face sagged until his jaw nearly touched the floor. "Wha!" he cried with his mouth open. "D-didn't it come from my shop?"

"No. Now GIVE. IT. BACK." Link held out his hand.

Deflated, Linebeck waddled back to the counter. He stared at Link's hand. "Where did you get it?"

"From Outset. Duh. Give it back!"

Linebeck's pout deepened and he took forever to do it, but eventually he was able to let the paper go and hand the pieces of the telescope back to Link.

"Is it really that valuable?" Nabooru asked curiously.

"Very," Linebeck said with a wobble. "Could buy a boat with that with the right buyer."

Nabooru shot Link a serious look. "Link . . ." _He could pay for Aryll's schooling! Granny wouldn't have to work! Neither would Link!_ What Linebeck did was intrusive, but if what he said was true, it could solve all of Link's family's problems!

"You're not selling it," Link stated firmly. "It belongs to Aryll. It's one of her security toys."

"T-toy! Son, it's a TREASURE!"

"ARYLL'S treasure!" He held the two pieces of the telescope up. It looked like they were supposed to screw back together, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't figure it out.

Nabooru watched him with deeper dread as each attempt failed, knowing that if _Link_ couldn't solve a puzzle, _no one could._

Link put his freaked out gaze on Linebeck. "PLEASE tell me you know how to fix this!"

Linebeck said nothing.

Link leaned his hands on the counter and dropped his head. "Aaaaaaugh!"

* * *

"_Shit_," Link said. He and Nabooru stood at the the bend in the sidewalk that led to Link's house. His head was lowered, and he was frozen in place. "_SHIT!_"

"Come on, Link, I know she'll forgive you eventually," Nabooru said.

"So?!" he said, giving her a desperate look. "I don't want to hurt her!" He scrunched his eyes shut, bowing his head again, shoulders slumped and arms held close. "How am I supposed to tell her it's broken?!"

"I know, Link, but you gotta tell her. You can't hide it."

"I don't want to go home!"

"You can do this. I know you can."

"SHIT!" Link rushed up the lane, and Nabooru followed, barely able to keep up. Suddenly Link turned around, and Nabooru barely got out of the way. "No," Link said. "I'd rather fight Demise again, I swear to Nayru!"

"Link!" Nabooru tried again to take Link's arm, to steady him. This time she succeeded. She looked at him seriously. "Look! This one time I got into Aveil's makeup and I ruined it, okay? She was so MAD, but we made up and now we laugh about it. You'll be fine! She's not going to hate you forever!"

"You don't know that," Link said, voice catching. "Aveil isn't autistic. She's your _big_ sister, not your little sister. I'm supposed to be the responsible one. There's nothing she could do to make _me_ as mad as I'm about to make her. I'm supposed to take care of her." His voice began to rise in volume. "I'm supposed to take care of her SPECIAL TREASURE!" He clenched his fists and stomped back to the door. His hand came up to open it.

And stopped.

He donked his forehead on the door.

Nabooru walked over and stood beside him, but she didn't touch him. His face was scrunched.

"I promised," he said.

"We can't always keep our word," Nabooru said.

He glanced at her sideways. "I really don't want to do this."

"You have to."

"I know." A long sigh escaped Link. "Okay." He put his hand on the doorknob and opened it, and they went inside.

"LINK LINK LINK!"

He was shaking. His voice wasn't as loud or enthusiastic as it usually was as he called, "Aryll! Aryll! Aryll!"

She came hurdling out of the living room from what it sounded like, chairs and tables scraping as she maneuvered around them, and then there she was, trusting blue eyes staring at his shirt, fists clenched excitedly. One fist unclenched and opened.

Link gave her a light high five.

She shuddered excitedly for a few seconds to deal with the overstimulation, then ran back into the living room. "Draw! Aryll good girl, she draw!"

He sent Nabooru a pleading look, and saw Granny watching from the kitchen. When she saw Link's face, she set down the kitchen tools she'd been using and started walking over. Link followed Aryll into the living room.

As she showed him the drawings she'd made today, Link began to wonder if maybe she didn't remember she'd given him the telescope. Maybe he wouldn't have to do this to her today . . .

"Telescope?" Aryll said, bounding around the room in circles.

"Wh-what?" Link repeated, pretending not to hear.

"Telescope! Tel! E! Scope!" She mimed using the telescope. Then she hopped over to Link and held out her hand expectantly.

Shaking worse than ever, Link slowly pulled his back pack off. "Well," he said, wondering how to begin. "About that . . ." His hands fumbled with the zipper. Nabooru raised her hands as if to help, but Link finally got it. He unzipped it slowly, realizing he had to explain first. "I . . . Um, Aryll, I did something."

She looked at him with curiosity. Of course there was no suspicion. Her brother would never do anything to hurt her. Not ever.

Link continued seriously, "Brother did a really bad thing." He didn't know how he did, but he reached his hand in and got his shaking fingers firmly around the broken telescope. "I broke my promise. I said I'd bring it home safe, and—and—and—" He pulled out one of the broken telescope pieces. Then the other.

Aryll stared from one to the other, blinking in confusion. He heard Granny gasp.

Link thought his heart would break, it was like someone was stabbing him over, and over, and over.

"Link," Nabooru whispered. "Say sorry!"

How was he supposed to say sorry? _'Sorry' and It's all okay? You don't say sorry about something like this! You admit what you did and you accept the consequences!_

Aryll grabbed the pieces of the telescope out of Link's hands. She hunched over with a sob and fled to the beanbag in the corner of the room, sitting down, humming to herself and rocking back and forth, clutching the broken telescope to her chest.

Link's eyes were stinging. He went over to Aryll and sat on the floor next to the beanbag. "Aryll?" he said.

"NO!" Aryll shouted. "NO TALK TO LINK! NO!"

Nabooru watched from across the room. She'd never seen Link look so crushed, although he was trying to accept it like a tramp. "Aryll," she said kindly, "Link didn't mean for it to happen. It was an accident."

Aryll smacked herself in the forehead, once. "No," she said, then smacked herself again. "NO!" Her rocking intensified.

Both Link and Granny were looking alarmed.

"No no no no no no no!"

"Aryll," Link said. "Can you breathe for me?"

"NO!" she shouted, then tried.

"Do you want your blanket?"

She shook her head, muttering.

"It's okay to cry," Link said. "I'm here, and Granny, too, and Nabooru, and we're not mad."

"No no no no no no no no—" Aryll's face turned to absolute panic and she jumped up and threw the broken pieces across the room. One smacked harmlessly against the wall, but the other smacked the TV. Nabooru was pretty sure she saw a crack. Aryll screamed at the top of her lungs and fell to the floor, hands grabbing at her hair as she kicked the ground. She rolled back and forth and Link quickly got out of her way.

Nabooru found her hand over her mouth as she backed to the window to give Link and Aryll more space. She'd only seen a few of Aryll's meltdowns, but they hadn't been like this. Link had told her about them after the fact, but she hadn't actually believed him. She knew there wasn't anything they could do except let it happen. The worst part was watching Aryll be helplessly upset. Link sat near her, face pale, and Granny sat on the couch, just as pale.

"I-Is—" Nabooru said quietly to Granny. "Is there anything I—I—"

Granny turned to her and gave her a smile that was way too brave for this situation. "Why don't you go into the kitchen, dear? There's ice cream!"

Nabooru shook her head. "No, I'm staying here!" Maybe that wasn't the correct choice, but in her own kind of panic, she wanted to be with Aryll, with Link, with Granny. She wanted to be there for them.

By now Aryll was kicking the coffee table, and she got up and suddenly smashed her head against the edge of it.

Link was on his feet in a split second. He grabbed Aryll and pulled her away from the coffee table. Of course the physical touch upset her more, and she squirmed, reached back, and firmly elbowed Link in the face. His head swung back and he let go of her. "Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" Nabooru asked.

Link didn't answer. Aryll was back on the floor, but now she was dragging her nails across her skin, digging deep marks.

"Oh my gosh!" Nabooru cried before she could stop herself.

Suddenly Link's face changed completely. It was like a switch turned on. "Nope," he said. He lunged to the couch and took the fuzzy blanket. "Nope!" he repeated. He covered Aryll with the blanket, bent down and wrapped his arms around her as he sat down. He pulled her tightly in his lap as she flailed and flailed. "We're not doing that," he said, voice dead calm even as her nails found his arms and scratched them up. "You can scratch me all you want. I'm not letting go, Aryll. You're not hurting yourself anymore. You can cry and scream and kick, but you can't hurt yourself." Blood was trickling out of his nose where she'd socked him. He ignored it. Aryll's own head had a huge lump where she'd bashed it against the table. No matter how she struggled, Link held her firmly inside the blanket. She was no match for his big muscles. Nabooru suddenly wondered if maybe the reason Link did lots of exercise wasn't just for his own ADHD, but also for moments like this. Aryll wouldn't always be a child, but Nabooru knew Link would never stop caring for her.

* * *

Later, when Aryll had finally calmed down, she went straight to bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

Link and Nabooru sat at the kitchen table, Link with his arms held on the counter so Granny could patch the scratches up with antiseptic.

"Why didn't I think about the table?!" Link complained. "I should have padded it before saying _anything_."

"It's not your fault, dear," Granny said for the thousandth time that night. "You can't have known. She hasn't had a meltdown like that in _months._"

"Yeah, well, I should have known."

Nabooru had her forehead on her fingers, and she rolled her eyes up. She could feel another headache. The first one was because of everything that had happened. Then it subsided. Now this one came back. "Link, are you serious? You did fine!" She looked at him with admiration. "You were _amazing!_"

Link responded with disbelief, "No I wasn't. I should have done better."

Nabooru slammed her hands on the counter and stood up. "You know what? Stop it!" She brandished a finger at him, boiling with rage. "You're a good brother and that's that so . . ." She scrabbled in the air with her fists. "SHUT UP!"

Link looked up at her with doe eyes. She could see Granny giggling quietly to herself from the corner of her eye.

Nabooru's first instinct was to blubber an apology for yelling, but instead she glanced away from Link and folded her arms defensively.

"Well," said Granny brightly, putting away the first aid kit. "I think Nabooru has it right, Link."

Nabooru sighed. "Just because you're upset doesn't mean you need to beat yourself up."

"What? But it's _true_—"

"Aryll's not allowed to hurt herself. Neither are you."

Link sank back into his seat, blinking at her, speechless.

For herself, she felt pretty proud of that statement. "You did great," she said. "Say it."

He looked at her weirdly. He stood up. "Do you wanna go for a run?"

"What?" Nabooru was caught by surprise. At first she thought he was deflecting, but he actually was almost smiling as he said it. He wasn't under a heavy cloud as much. Just a little bit. "A run?" She repeated.

"Yeah," he said, already visibly happier at the thought.

"Uh, well, sure."

"Is that okay, Granny?"

"I think that's an excellent coping mechanism, Link," Granny replied.

Link grinned, and Nabooru could tell he was feeling relieved already. They went outside into the cool night air and Link started up immediately, Nabooru catching up. It felt weird to run in her work boots, but Nabooru didn't mind. They didn't talk, just ran side by side. Nabooru kept glancing over at Link, watching as with each long stretch of street, his face cleared of trouble a little more, until he was beginning to smile again like he normally did. She started to feel better, too, knowing he was going to be fine. Apparently this is what he needed. She knew he was going easy on her, running wise. She wasn't a runner. But he let her be by him as he worked out whatever was going on inside his head.

For some reason, that meant the world to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Thanks for the reviews and for reading :)**

* * *

"It's such a bummer Link has to work so much now," Shadow said. He and Sheik were taking an after school jog. Shadow didn't mention the fact that if his dad weren't in jail, he'd still have money, and if he had money he could help Link and Aryll and Grandma. He said nothing because he felt like everyone was sick of hearing about his dad being in jail. He wasn't embarrassed, he just . . . wanted things to be normal. But they couldn't be, and now he was stewing in his emotions.

"Right?" Sheik agreed, checking out the trees along the street. "He's missing out. Hyrule is beautiful today!"

Shadow was jerked out of his negative thought train. He grinned widely enough to show his fangs and laughed. "What's with you? You're in a good mood these days!"

"Dad's coming home!"

Shadow skidded to a halt, eyes wide in worry.

Sheik gave him a weirded out look, but still smiled. "Why are you stopping?"

"Sheik . . ."

"It's ok. We talked. I think he'll come around eventually. He has to. I'm his kid!"

_You said kid, not son. He still doesn't accept that you're trans._

Rolling his eyes in an attempt to laugh it off, Sheik said, "It's fine, Shadow. Why can't you be happy for me? I haven't seen my dad in months!"

_Yeah, because he didn't bother to come see you._ "It's just . . . You're always really happy right up until your dad calls, then after, you're a mess."

Annoyance sparked across Sheik's face. No, almost anger. But it disappeared quickly. "It's just because I miss him. That's all. I'm miserable when he leaves, that's why I'm upset."

_Yeah, it's got nothing to do with him treating you like a fucking girl._

"Don't you get that?"

Shadow chose to end the discussion and keep his thoughts to himself. He could tell Sheik was getting really insecure, like he always did about his parents ever since they separated a few months ago. He didn't want to make Sheik mad, or upset him more. He also wasn't looking forward to the fallout. Before it was just phone calls and Sheik would devolve into a self destructive storm cloud. What would happen when it was an actual visit?

* * *

He found out when they jogged up to Sheik's mansion half an hour later. A long limousine kind of thing sat outside the circular driveway, and as they got closer a man with a black goatee and wearing a suit and tie stepped out of it.

Sheik went careening across the lawn in the center of the circle right toward the man. _"Dad!"_

Shadow followed more slowly.

Mr. Harikinian smiled. "Hey, peanut!"

Sheik collided with him and hugged him tightly. Mr. Harkinian set him back on his feet. Parents do this thing where they look you up and down if they haven't seen you in longer than two seconds—Shadow's dad did it all the time, especially since the transplant. So it was weird when Mr. Harkinian didn't do that. It was hard to tell behind the man's sunglasses that he was looking anywhere but Sheik, but Shadow caught it, and so did Sheik.

Laying his hands self consciously over his binder, Sheik blushed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't have time to get ready. I didn't know you were coming already."

Shadow stood nearby, resisting the urge to tell Sheik he didn't need to apologize for _not dressing up as a girl_ for his stupid dad's comfort. But saying that would just upset Sheik more, he knew from experience, so he directed his discomfort into kicking a rock. It went careening into the driveway. Shadow hoped Mr. Harkinian ran over it and it would magically pop a tire. Then Sheik would be stuck here.

"That's alright, dear," Mr. Harkinian said, patting Sheik's shoulders while holding him at arm's length. "I couldn't wait to see you. Do you need anything out of the house? Let's leave now."

"Um, I need to change—"

"Don't you need new clothes? Let's take you shopping!"

"Uh, okay. Don't you want to talk to Mama?"

"I talked to her briefly before you came."

"Oh. Well, alright then." Sheik turned to Shadow with a relieved grin. "Are you gonna be okay if we don't do our usual?"

Was he supposed to say no? He shook his head.

"Okay. See ya, Shadow!" Sheik excitedly got into the limo with his dad, and soon they were speeding around the driveway.

They ran over the rock.

Didn't even slow them down.

Shadow sighed. He didn't mind a rain check with Sheik, but as selfish as it sounded, he'd been looking forward to getting fed by his mom. She always fed them.

"Shadow?"

He turned around and none other than Mrs. Harkinian herself stood at the top of the steps into the mansion. "Hi Mrs. G. Sheik just left."

She looked regretful. "I know. I was hoping to catch him, but I was too late. I wanted to speak to his father."

"Mr. H said he already talked to you."

Her expression barely changed, but that was the tip off. She was doing that thing parents do. Hiding feelings. Shadow felt he understood. Sheik's dad had lied to him, he hadn't really talked to his mother, and his mother couldn't say anything about it without making Mr. Harkinian look bad or risking Sheik not believing her and getting mad at her instead. And she wouldn't talk to Shadow about it, because Shadow was just a teenager, and if she accidentally said something, he might have to tell Sheik because bro code.

That's what he guessed, anyway. He'd ask Vaati later. Vaati was better with drama, even grown up drama.

Noticing Shadow was still standing there, Mrs. Harkinian said, "Do you want to come inside?"

Shadow hopped to the steps like a hot potato ready to be fried. "Sure!"

* * *

"—and I know Vaati doesn't wanna talk about why he disappeared, but I can't help wanting to ask because he always looks so sad, you know?"

Mrs. Harkinian handed him another cookie. "I understand."

Shadow lay on his back on the fancy plush couch in the Harkinian's living room. It was amazing here. He could come here and say whatever he needed to, and Mrs. Harkinian just listened. Sometimes when he came over with Sheik, he didn't actually want to be with Sheik. I mean, he did, but he spent a ton of time with Sheik, and besides, most of the time Sheik just wanted to do his homework anyways, so there were always at least a couple hours where it was just him laying on the couch, and Mrs. Harkinian, sitting in her fluffy chair with her tea listening to him gripe about stupid shit.

"And it's just . . . right now, he's staying with dad and me, so I always know he's safe, but once the trial comes, dad says we might lose the house so . . ." His voice faltered. _Where will I go? Vaati has a flat with Kohga and Zant, could I live there?_ He raised to his elbows and looked at Mrs. Harkinian desperately. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

Mrs. Harkinian's eyebrows bent sadly, and she shook her head. "I'm afraid I've done all I can to put the trial off, Shadow."

"Can't you tell them something? That I just started school? It's gonna really screw up my future. You know?" He was just blurting anything off the top of his head.

Mrs. Harkinian just shook her head some more and stood up, tapping his shoulder before heading out of the room. "I'm sorry, Shadow, I truly am. Get up. I made vegan pudding."

Shadow shot straight up. "Pudding?! Wow, you're amazing!"

As he followed Mrs. Harkinian's perfect brown bun through the hall, and watched her gracefully walk, her dress swishing behind her, and he couldn't help thinking, _is this what having a mom is like?_ He didn't feel like he could do anything wrong. Or, well, he could, but only when it mattered, then she'd give him some stern lesson but follow it up with cookies, so how could he feel bad about it? It wasn't like his dad, who used to scream at him about everything. Since the operation, the screaming has stopped, but even that was awkward.

Mrs. Harkinian looked back at him and smiled before turning into the kitchen.

When he got to the kitchen, she was already pulling two small bowls of pudding on the counter.

He charged over to one right away. "Aah! Chocolate!" He picked up a spoon and dug in immediately. "Mmmm, _dark chocolate._"

Mrs. Harikinian laughed, a giggling, bubbly sound. Not something you'd expect from a graceful senator's wife. "You're the only teenager I know who prefers dark to milk."

"Milk is for the weak!" Shadow declared, putting a large spoonful into his mouth, sucking every last tasty morsel off the spoon. "Also not vegan."

"You know, Shadow."

"Whazzat?" he said around a mouthful of glorious chocolate.

"If worse comes to worst, you can stay here."

He froze, spoon still in his mouth. "Dow youw men dat?" He pulled the spoon out of his mouth self consciously.

"I'm not saying you'll ever need to," she said. "And I know you'll probably want to live with Link and your grandmother—

_Oh, right,_ he thought. _That's probably where I'll go._ It was strange he hadn't thought of that.

"But . . ." She looked him dead in the eyes, as serious as only moms could be he guessed, and continued, "If worse comes to worst, now, or _anytime_ in the future, and you need a place to stay, for a little, for a while, for a long while, you can always come here."

Um, why were his eyes watery? He set his pudding down. "Um . . ." He wiped his eyes quickly. "Um . . . Thank you, Mrs. H, uh, Mrs. Harkinian, aah—"

Well, shit, now he was obviously tearing up, but he pretended he wasn't and put his hands on his hips to ask, "How did you know I was, uh, worried about that?"

She came over with her arms open. "It's a mom thing." She hugged him.

"I miss my mom," Shadow said into her shoulder. "I don't even fuc—I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Shadow, just talk."

"I don't even fucking know her, but I still miss her. Like, where is she? She should be here."

"I know she'd be here in a second, if she could be," Mrs. Harkinian said. "But in the meantime, I'm here instead." She pulled away and patted his cheeks. "Oh! Vaati's welcome, too. It's a big house."

Shadow laughed chokingly. "You gonna have a whole bunch of boys in your house?"

She shrugged as she strode back to the fridge. "Well." She patted her hair. "Not to _brag,_ but I'm pretty good at raising boys!"

It made him grin when Mrs. Harkinian spoke about Sheik like that.

* * *

She was sweating through her shirt. She imagined how, if she were in the Twilight Realm, she could just rip it off and no one would ask questions.

_Nobody polices Twili ladies there,_ she thought. _Everybody runs around in mostly the nude._

Midna stood in the center of the coliseum in the center of the city, looking up at the shattered Twilight Mirror.

Well, partially shattered. The last several months she'd used her recently unblocked Twili powers to begin rebuilding it. She'd come quite far, at least a tenth of the mirror was back to normal.

Through the holes in the coliseum she could hear patrons of the historic site, curious Hyruleans who had come to ogle the great behemoth portal rock. The curators of the site had managed to limit patron entrance into the actual coliseum so she could work, but there was only so much they could do against prying eyes.

_Ah, screw it,_ she thought. _Let them see the power of Twilight!_

Blue lines coursed through her as she activated her magic, her hair beginning to glow bright orange as it formed a fist. She was about to pick up a mirror piece when she saw Malon coming in with a box of food and a milk bottle.

Her day just got a thousand times better. "Ah, food!" Midna said, casually, as if she didn't even know Malon.

"Delivery!" Malon said in a convincingly business like manner.

"Hey!" Midna winked at her. "Thanks, I'm famished."

When they were standing in front of each other, Midna whispered through her fakely grinning teeth, "I really wanna kiss your face, but I can't."

Malon spoke through a tiny smile. "I mmmmmay have kissed the lip of the milk bottle."

Midna almost blushed. Couldn't have that! She swiped the box and the milk from Malon's hands and started walking away. "I left a tip on the table by the door!"

"Alright, thank you."

Unable to resist, Midna stopped and looked back, smiling. "See you tomorrow."

Malon giggled and waved. "See ya."

When Malon was gone, Midna sat on a rock and set the food beside her, the world suddenly several shades darker, and not in the cool Twilit way. She grabbed the milk bottle first and uncorked it. It made her giddy to think Malon's lips had been on it, and it felt so silly to feel so connected through something so small.

_This is stupid. Are we in middle school? This . . . Is stupid. I should be able to kiss my girlfriend whenever I want!_

She knew she couldn't. The council finding out she was gay was the last thing she needed right now. Even though she'd returned the Triforce of Power to the Hylians, and even though it was basically a fact that Yuga had given it to her when she was a baby in order to suppress her Twili powers (something about Light and Dark magics canceling each other out—Vio had known the details), Zant had somehow successfully made the Twili council believe she could still be a traitor, a defector to the Hylians.

Of course, they weren't telling _her_ that.

No, they just betrothed her to _Zant,_ of all people, so he could babysit her.

_He's not even of Royal blood, like I am, so why does he get such a strong voice?_

No matter the idiotic disbelief of the council, Midna was determined to prove that Yuga, the Prime Minister of Lorule, had something to do with the mirror's original shattering, and she was determined to fix it, and find her parents, and restore their rule over the Twili in Hyrule.

_I'll never have to marry Zant, then!_

"Twilight Princess~"

She suppressed a groan. "Zant." She bit into her sandwich aggressively.

He sat down next to her. The nerve! "How is my fiance?"

She almost spit out her food as she snapped, "Don't EVER call me that!"

"Pleasant as ever, I see." Ever since the council had chosen his side, Zant had gotten even cockier than normal. He didn't even complain about her bitchiness anymore. "I know the princess is doing her _absolute best_, but the council is _anxious_ to know—how are the repairs going?"

No longer hungry, Midna slammed her sandwich back in the box and stood up. "Better if I didn't get interrupted by the likes of you." She turned back to him, hands on her hips. "Didn't they give you the report I sent this morning?"

"It wasn't complete."

"What are you talking about?"

He procured a copy of her report from his sleeve, rolled up and slightly crumpled. "I _mean_, it doesn't say when this effort will be finished. They are wondering."

"How should I know? This isn't a jigsaw puzzle."

"Yes, but you can understand their eagerness."

"No, I can't. You pestering me isn't going to make me go any faster. Besides, is the council, wondering, or you? The second that mirror gets fixed, you're off the council. You know that, right? No way is a young upstart gonna be kept when I'm sure there are older, wiser Twilis on the other side. Both of us are getting replaced." _Thank goodness._

Zant made a show of gasping. "Why, it's only a mirror to our ancestors, Twilight, it's a beautiful piece of history, a connection to our homeland. Of course I want it completed!" He snarled.

"You're an orphan. You don't have any family there. Hyrule is all you know."

Suddenly he was earnest again, leaning forward with his fingertips pressed together. "But aren't you curious? It's _our_ world."

_Crap._ "There's a lot better people for me to marry, also, I bet. I doubt this engagement will hold."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

_Does he know something I don't? Why is he so confident?_

He stood slowly. "Regardless," he said, "you ought to let me help you, princess."

"You are helping me. I need you in the library translating the old spellbook. You're better at it than I am." Before now, she'd thought Zant was as loyal to the Twili as she was. That was the whole purpose of their feud. He disagreed with how friendly she was with Hylians. Now, she wasn't sure he was loyal to anyone but himself.

_He'll do anything to keep his power, won't he?_

Sighing, he pulled out a stack of papers from his robes.

She raised an eyebrow at them as she took them. _Can I even trust his translations? For all I know, he could be sabotaging the mirror!_

"I'll tell the council you have no more news," Zant said, voice dripping with acid.

"Do that," Midna said, and turned away.

* * *

The next day at lunch, the group sat around the table like usual, and Midna joined them. Vaati had one arm around Shadow's shoulders and the two were laughing at private jokes, Kohga sat next to them, arms folded and head lolled to the side as he snored loudly. Link and Nabs sat together like always.

Midna sat across from Groose, noting Sheik wasn't here. She needed to talk to him about Zant's translations. The council would hate her for it, but she trusted Sheik a lot more than she trusted Zant. "Sheik in the bathroom?" she asked Groose. She got a little worried suddenly. Did he go alone? Why hadn't Groose gone with him? Going as a group might be a girl thing but Sheik was trans and there might be boys in there who'd beat him up and—

"He's not at school today." Groose's mouth set in a tight line and he stirred his soup absently.

Midna plopped her tray on the table. "What? Is he sick?" _He's on that new birth control to stop his periods, maybe he's just super hormonal?_

But Groose was already shaking his head. "He's with his dad."

The world kept spinning, but Midna froze. "_Serious?"_ she finally got out.

"Serious," he repeated sadly.

Midna was pissed. _Sheik skipping school? This is all his dad's fault! That manipulative, selfish, stupid Hylian bastard son of a—_

"Hey, hon."

She looked up to find Nabooru grinning at her from under her golden eyeshadow.

"What's up, Nabs?"

"A lot, actually. When was the last time we hung out?"

Midna groaned with a dramatic shrug. "I work, you work, when are we supposed to?"

"I mean . . . Linebeck's is pretty laid back, if you wanna come over sometime."

"I could really use a break . . ." She thought about it. Linebeck's was a Hylian store, but an international one. It wouldn't cause any political problems to go there and chat with a Gerudo, would it?

"Besides, Link is taking this Saturday off to be with Aryll. I'm gonna be so _bored_."

Midna smirked a fangy smirk. Link was another Triforce holder. If he was out of the picture, that made it easy. "I'll try to sneak out."

* * *

While Midna and Nabs chatted, Groose turned to Link.

"So Link," he said, "have you thought about joining the Loftwing team?"

"I don't have time, dude," Link said. "I told you before, I have to make money."

"Yeah, but . . . You're super tough, and if you get good enough, there's scholarships, and sponsorships, and programs . . . Lots of money."

Link's food paused halfway to his mouth. He considered it for a long moment. Money, maybe college? A future? Then shook his head. "No. No, I'd have to be too good. There's no guarantee I'd be good enough. I've never even ridden a Loftwing, or done any sports." He rapped his knuckles on the table in agitation. "And I wouldn't get money forever. I need money _now_." He took a big bite of lasagna.

Groose pouted. "Darn."

"Yeah."

Link tried not to sulk on the way home. He had to walk past the Loftwing field to get to the bus stop. They flied overhead in formation. He recognized Groose's big red pompadour on the lead Loftwing. With his hands in his pockets, he imagined what it would be like, to be part of a team, to fly in the air, set records, beat his own records. He missed being on Darunia's research team, going to amazing places, doing amazing things.

But Loftwing games seemed even more fun.

_I have lots of friends, what am I complaining about?_

He tried to pull up the last time he'd actually hung out with them—like really hung out, party style. Karaoke, video game tournaments, sleepover, competing with each other at the skate park.

It took a long time to pull anything up.

_I hate being a grownup, and I'm not even grown up yet._ He didn't know of any other fifteen year olds who had to work two jobs on top of school. Except for Nabs. Everyone else had rich parents, even Sheik, and Shadow.

_Shadow . . ._

He didn't even have his own twin brother living with him anymore! They'd stay up late playing guitar or else talking about whatever. Before he got to the bus stop, he pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Yallo!" said Shadow. In the background Link could hear other voices laughing, probably Vaati and those other two kids he hung out with.

"Hey," Link said.

"What's up, bro?"

"Uh, nothing, just on my way to work, just thought I'd call. How are you doing?"

"Great! We're about to start watching Hyrule Warriors, remember that stupid TV show they made for it?"

Someone shouted, "_It's not stupid, it's PEAK comedy!_"

Link's chest ached. "Sounds like you're having fun."

"Haha, yeah, wish you were here, it's pretty dumb."

"I guess I'll hang up now, don't wanna bother you."

"Nah, it's fine, do you need something?" The voices in the background disappeared. Shadow must have gone into another room.

Thoughts hurried through Link's brain. _Can I stay over at your place tonight? Can you stay at mine? I'll fall asleep the moment I'm home, but I still want you there, is that stupid?_ "Nah. I'm good. I'm glad you're having fun."

"Okay. See you at school!"

"K. Bye."

Ahead, he saw the bus drive off without him.

* * *

Shadow stared at the phone in his hand as he went back to the living room and sat on the couch. "Well, that was weird."

"What, Shay-shay?" Vaati asked, looping an arm around Shadow's shoulders immediately. Kohga had finally gone to shower, it sounded like, and Zant was in his room.

"It was Link," Shadow said. "It's weird he would call. He never calls anybody."

"Huh. Maybe he's worried about you?"

"Why?"

Vaati shrugged. "I dunno, you kinda _almost died_."

Shadow laughed. "But that was months ago, and he almost died, too. We all almost did." _Maybe he's right, maybe Link is worried, I haven't checked in lately._ He started texting Link a funny message.

Vaati hugged him close. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

His fingers froze. _Maybe he's going to talk about it finally!_ He set the phone aside and turned to Vaati, putting an arm on the back of the couch. "Yeah, you know . . . I was really worried about you, V."

"I was just at the island, why were you worried?"

"No you weren't. Remember? Your phone got disconnected, you withdrew from the Academy, I didn't hear from you for _months._ I even called Ezlo."

Vaati leaned back. "What?"

"I waited six hours for the phone guy to go find him, too. You know there's only one phone on the entire island?"

"I know that." Vaati sounded slightly irritated, so Shadow shut up.

_Did I say too much?_

"You really called him?" Vaati asked timidly.

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Uh . . . A couple weeks before the snowball fight where you said, um, goodbye." He still felt upset about it.

"Oh." Vaati sat with his legs together, shoulders slumped, tapping his fingers together in his lap.

Shadow couldn't resist. He leaned even further. "What happened Vaati? Where did you go? What happened to you?"

Vaati stood up suddenly. "It's in the _past!_"

Shadow stood up too. "Not for _me!_"

"It's a Picori thing!"

"I'm your friend, Vaati, I had nightmares because of you!"

"It's not about you!"

"No, it's about US!"

Vaati covered his face with his hands. "Don't ASK me, don't ASK me about it, Shadow!" His voice was shaking.

"Vaati, I'm right here for you, why won't you talk to me?" He tried to take Vaati by the shoulders, but the smaller kid pushed him in the chest.

"I DON'T want to talk about it EVER, Shadow!" Vaati ran from the room faster than Shadow could follow. He locked himself in the room he and Kohga shared.

Shadow put his ear against the door. He could hear Vaati sobbing loudly on the other side. "Vaati!"

He got no answer.

"I'm not leaving!" His own voice shook from hearing Vaati screaming. He sounded so helpless, and now Shadow felt like an idiot for making him so upset he was too embarrassed to be out here.

The bathroom door opened, and Kohga came out in a towel, brushing his teeth. His upper half was a forest of muscles.

_Damn_, Shadow thought.

"What's up?" Kohga asked, nodding at the bedroom door.

_Oh, right, it's his room, too._ "Uh, I pissed Vaati off. He's locked himself in."

Kohga sighed. "Well that's great."

"You want to try to talk to him? He won't answer me."

"Nah, he gets like this. There's no point." Kohga sat on the couch half naked and grabbed the remote.

"He . . . Does this? Does he do this a lot?"

"Two or three times a week. Though it's been a while cuz he's been at your place."

Vaati was emotional, he cried all the time, over serious stuff, over regular stuff, over stupid movies and crap.

What happened that was so bad he didn't want anyone to see him cry about it?

"He'll be done in an hour or so."

How could Kohga talk like this was normal? This was _not normal._ He didn't know what to do, he just stood there outside Vaati's door, watching the TV.

"Dude, he'll seriously be out in an hour. Just chill. Sit down. You're making me tired."

Shadow lowered his brows. "We don't _do_ that in this family!"

"Family?" Kohga scoffed. "Do what, exactly?"

"We don't leave each other alone to cry." He turned and pounded on the door. "VAATI! OPEN UP! OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL PULL A DAD AND BREAK DOWN THIS DOOR!"

There were running footsteps, the door was flung open, and Vaati ran out and straight into Shadow's chest. He buried his face in Shadow's shirt, clutching him tightly. "I'm sorry! D-don't hurt me!"

Shadow wrapped his arms around Vaati protectively. "Vaati . . . I'm not going to hurt you. Why would you think that?"

"I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . ."

"Shush, what are you apologizing for?" He held Vaati's head against his chest and stroked his back, trying to calm his shaking.

"Huh," Kohga said from the couch. "That's new."

"Shh!" Shadow hissed. He held Vaati closely and whispered, "You don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry. I'll hold you til you're done crying. Don't worry, V." He carefully pulled them both into the room. He briefly considered letting Kohga get some clothes first, but then he got pissed at Kohga's cavalier attitude about Vaati's crying, and he closed the door firmly with his foot.


End file.
